Connecting The AR and Social Media Dots IRL

Have you reached out to meet some of the activerain bloggers? It can be a blast and might lead to come fun local business sharing that can connect around the world!

The initial step to connecting the social media dots is by commenting on a blog post, a status update or a tweet then to get real ROI (Return On Investment or Influence) there must be personal contact with your new connection.

Can it be scary to meet new people that you don't know on social media?.... yes it can! You can feel better about reading someone's blog instead of just a tweet or a comment on facebook or google+ but it is still important to take precautions as you evolve to real life meet ups. Take someone with you and meet in a public place are always good ways to start. When you have read someones blog for awhile and called them to chat then decide to meet up it takes away some of the anxiety.

This is a story of a delightful journey from the activerain real estate community blog to meet ups in Palm Springs, California with real estate agents and an Art Gallery Owner connected to a glass sculpture artist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Who knew what could come together from social media comments, a few phone calls, e-mails and facebook posts to have some lunch meet ups and connect business across the country. We really did connect the dots in the Cosmic Cow Pie of social media.

Meet Kathy Schowe from La Quinta, California, just outside of Palm Springs. Kathy was on the ladies professional golf tour, has an amazing personality and now specializes in selling real estate golf course communities in the La Quinta, Palm Springs area. She has a crazy fun site called 365 things to do in Palm Springs that is very helpful when coming to the area.

Last year we paid a visit to Palm Springs and Kathy invited me to do a presentation on Pinterest and Google+ which was great and many of the agents are using the tools they learned to navigate and connect in Social Media. No matter what business, product or service you are working with, social media is the key to getting your information out and helping people with the valuable content you have to share.

This year our activerain friend Jane Peters drove down from the LA area for lunch at Tommy Bahama's in Palm Desert, California. We had a blast connecting as neither Kathy nor I had met Jane IRL. My first experience with Jane was very funny as she commented on a blog post with a quote from Saturday Night Live and I did not process it as a joke. We had a private conversation via e-mail on the interesting comment and the experience ended up in the e-book I co-authored and crowd sourced called Cosmic Shift Happens™ Professionals from all over the country were part of the crowd sourcing or group collaboration explaining how social media comments have to be taken with a gain of salt to understand the humor or snarky attitude some people enjoy sharing on line. With our lunch meetup we all connected some social media dots in the Cosmic Cow Pie as we have all been sharing comments on facebook, google+ and twitter and now we have a real life engagement to go along with our virtual perceptions.

Activerain had some great real time meetup conventions called "rain camps" I met Karen Sanchez in line for the rain camp at Las Vegas and we started talking about real estate in Victor Valley, where she sells affordable homes in Southern California. Karen shared, "The Victor Valley is a beautiful place to live, close to many fun places to go. The only thing that can make this place a better place to live is YOU!" Karen has a delightful smile and wonderful outlook on life and real estate. We connected on facebook and I chatted with her about her progress and family. When we met in real time with her friend Christina Hood from Redlands California we had a great time sharing our zest for real estate and inspiring ideas about sharing our communities. We had a lot of fun at Tommy Bahama's again and I got to share information with them about the Coda Art Gallery down the street and my glass sculpture artist friends!

Christina Hood is a former pilot and pilot instructor, now real estate marketing consultant in Redlands, Riverside, Yucaipa and Rancho Cucamonga California is a girl with a zest for life and for real estate. If you like an exuberant, fun loving personality, Christina is the girl for you. She tweets, foursquares, facebooks and instagrams like a pro.

Katie Katz and I have become close virtual friends through google+ where we met and we produced a video LIVE in a hangout An Air from the Bernard Katz Glass 7,000 sq. ft studio on Philadelphia. We had guests from around the globe asking questions about the amazing glass sculpture Bernard creates for galleries and businesses around the world. We found that a live event like this with event invitations on google+ created a lot of internet interest in the beautiful work of Bernard Katz.

Katie and I share comments on facebook, twitter and google+ on a daily basis and she saw that I was posting about Palm Springs. She reached out to me through the Internet asking me to stop into the Coda Art Gallery and see Bernard's work and meet the manger. I called theCoda Gallery from the facebook link that Katie shared with me and I reached Barbara who explained how to get to the gallery and I found out it was only a couple blocks from my meeting place with Karen Sanchez and Christina Hood so I stopped at the gallery before our meet up and I was able to share the adventure with them starting more global connections.

It was a delight to meet Barbara Hill-Stanely the manager, of the Coda Art Gallery and we talked about social media and how it is connecting the world in all kinds of business. I shared with Barbara that Kathy Schowe was a local real estate agent in La Quinta and she had a site called 365 things to do in Palm Springs. CODA gallery features an eclectic mix of painting, sculpture, and glass that share an extraordinary energy in an expansive and beautiful exhibition space. Coda hosts frequent openings and artist's receptions so I thought this might be a perfect addition to the 365 things to do in Palm Springs mentioning the fun social media connection from activerain blogging to facebook and google+ All the social media dots were connected here and it makes the world seem like a much smaller face. See how the facebook connection worked on the Coda Art Gallery page.

Check out Coda Art Gallery in Palm Desert at 73151 El Paseo 800-700-4661 Ask for the manager Barbara Hill-Stanley and tell her you came because of a social media blog post!

Connecting the dots in the Cosmic Cow Pie of social media can be loads of fun! From California to Philadelphina we came full circle with real estate friends in activerain and localism IRT In Real Time. The group now has a genuine friendship and business network to share with the world. This is the Best ROI (Return On Influence) around. Like planting a garden, Social Media connections take time to develop and when you take the step to get the next level with a call, e-mail and meet up, the harvest is delightful!

I've enjoyed all of the IRL meet-ups I've had with Active Rain members and others from social media connections. It's as if we are old friends and in many ways we are. You are still on my bucket list :-)

Carra, what a pleasure it was to meet you. Karen Sanchez has said so many wonderful things about you and how much she has learned from you. I truly appreciate your posts and look forward to our next informal meet up :)

@Karen Sanchez it was an honor to have you and @Christina drive up from Redlands and Victor Valley for lunch! Very nice memories we have and a solid relationship IRL Can't wait till you come visit Williams, and we go to the Grand Canyon! Another Fun time!

@Jane, Jane, Jane..... so wonderful to meet you IRL and am looking forward to your golf visit this summer! I now have a real time connection with your quick and witty humor! Such a delight to connect after 3 years on the blogsphere!

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